Locally Grown Food and Your Health

Live in Health, Locally

The easier way to know where your food is coming from is do buy local. I highly recommend seeking out articles and books about the meat industry and how food is grown and shipped in the United States, but we don’t always have the time to curl up with a good, heart-wrenching read. Instead, try and get your produce from your local farmer’s market. Talk to the growers, ask if they use pesticides (if you’re concerned about that), buy produce that’s actually in season in your climate. If you don’t have a local farmer’s market near you, when you’re at the supermarket, see if the produce sold there states where it’s from. Try and pick items that are grown in your state. when it comes to your diet being picky is a good thing.

Organic, Free-Range, and Farm Raised: Which is Healthier?

As for meat, don’t be fooled by the “organic, free-range” label. The standards for what constitutes “free range” are silly-it means that instead of being held in the stocks they can “roam” in a 3×3 space. Sounds quite luxurious, does it not? Eggs are the same story-don’t imagine that these chickens are flying all over a green field eating corn to their heart’s delight. They’re probably still pumped full of hormones and left to waddle in their obesity in their slightly larger prison, trying to peck at one another with their phantom beaks. A jail is still a jail, no matter how big the cell. Again, if you’re fortunate enough to have a local farmer’s market, ask around! I saw plenty of local farmers who were offering beautiful cuts of lamb, beef and chicken, as well as softly speckled eggs in cardboard containers. Farmers who are proud of their way their animals were raised (and slaughtered) have nothing to hide.

Healthier Thinking For The Long Run

If you have no option but to buy meat from your local supermarket or butcher, try to trace its origins as much as you can. People may give you weird looks for being such a food sleuth, but there’s nothing crazy about wanting to know what you’re feeding yourself and your family. Eating locally is not only better for your health for the obvious reasons of reducing your risk for chronic illness like diabetes and heart disease. The healthier you are the better you will feel and the less you will be spending time in waiting rooms reading old magazines.

One Response to “Locally Grown Food and Your Health”

I agree that buying organic products is better. The fewer pesticides and chemicals we consume the better. Plus, I’ve noticed that the fruit and vegetables from the farmer’s market usually taste better.